Measuring one nucleon transfer reaction 24Mg(p, d)23Mg for astrophysical reaction rates

The level structure of a radionuclide 23 Mg has been studied by using the 24 Mg( p , d ) 23 Mg one nucleon transfer reaction measurement for the astrophysical 19 Ne(α, γ) 23 Mg reaction rate. A 41 MeV proton beam was produced and accelerated at the 25 MV tandem accelerator of the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the United States. The beam particles impinged on an isotopically-enriched 24 Mg solid target. Angular distributions of recoiling deuterons were extracted by using a large area silicon strip detector array. By comparing the experimentally-obtained angular distributions with zero range distorted wave Born approximation calculations, spins and parities of three energy levels of 23 Mg could be constrained for the first time, which is very important information needed to understand the 19 Ne(α, γ) 23 Mg reaction rate.